Noida: Allegations by farmers, mentioned in Supreme Court, about Noida Authority officials asking for a 10% cut from the excess compensation corpus they received have again brought the functioning of UP’s richest development body under judicial scrutiny.In recent years, Noida Authority’s image has taken repeated hits over corruption within its ranks. From the conviction of former CEO Neera Yadav for allotting land to her own family to the large-scale maintenance contracts fraud under former chief engineer Yadav Singh, largescale irregularities pointed out by Comptroller and Auditor General, the Supertech twin towers case in which Supreme Court was scathing in its remarks, the terms corruption and collusion have returned frequently to haunt Noida Authority.Supreme Court referred to it not just while ordering the demolition of the twin towers in 2021 but also while scrapping toll collection on DND Flyway in 2024. As far back as 2011, Noida officials had drawn rebuke in Supreme Court for allotting plots to favoured contractors.With an annual budget of Rs 8,732 crore for 2025-26, Noida Authority sits at the centre of some of the most valuable urban land in the country. This position, and the discretion it carries over who gets what land and on what terms, has been at the centre of this scrutiny.Neera Yadav, a 1971-batch IAS officer who served as Noida chairperson in 1994 before rising to become UP’s chief secretary in 2005, was convicted by a CBI special court in 2012 along with husband Rajiv Kumar, the then deputy CEO, for illegally allotting plots to Neera herself and her two daughters during her tenure (1994-95). She was sentenced to three years in prison, but Supreme Court later reduced that to two.Long before that, a writ petition filed in 1997 by Noida Entrepreneurs Association alleged systematic favouritism in plot allotments. When Supreme Court finally ruled in 2011, it found Noida Authority officials had “passed orders in colourable exercise of power favouring himself and certain contractors”. It directed a CBI inquiry.Contracts for cashTender-rigging in exchange for bribes was a second category of corruption that ran alongside the land scandals. The most prominent case involves Yadav Singh, who served as chief engineer of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authority, and executed 1,280 maintenance contracts worth Rs 954 crore in 2011.Singh was suspended in June 2012 after being named in the contract ‘scam’ and accused of embezzlement in the execution of infrastructure projects. He was finally sacked and arrested after I-T raids on him and a company by the name of Meenu Creation in which his wife Kusum Lata is a director. Taxmen found Rs 12 crore in an SUV parked outside Singh’s home in Noida, besides diamond-studded gold jewellery worth crores.A CBI chargesheet against Singh also alleged that in Dec 2011, he had awarded contracts worth Rs 92 crore for underground cable-laying work in Noida to three specific firms, and that the bribes received in return were routed as investments through his wife.The case is sub-judice, and Singh is currently out on bail.Builder-official collusion
In the Supertech twin tower case, which was built in violation of building norms, the SC bench noted that nobody in Noida Authority had, apparently, noticed anything amiss
On Aug 31, 2021, Supreme Court ordered the demolition of Supertech’s twin residential towers in Sector 93A that were built in violation of building norms and minimum distance requirements. In his judgment, Justice D Y Chandrachud, who later served as Chief Justice of India, noted that nobody in the Authority had, apparently, noticed anything amiss. “The record of this case is replete with instances which highlight the collusion between the officers of Noida Authority with the appellant and its management,” he said.The towers were razed on Aug 28, 2022, using controlled implosion, generating 80,000 tonnes of debris and prompting stricter scrutiny of real estate projects in Noida.The DND Flyway ruling in Dec 2024 had similar language. Upholding an Allahabad high court order to abolish toll collection, Supreme Court observed that concessionaire Noida Toll Bridge Company Ltd had already recouped its investment and unfairly profited from the toll collection. Referring to a CAG report, SC found “serious impropriety” and “blatant misuse of power and breach of public trust” in the way toll collections were allowed to continue far beyond reasonable limits.“This could not have been done but for the collusion of the then officers of the two state (Delhi and UP) govts and of Noida Authority, who closed their eyes while the contractual obligations were incurred,” the court order read. It had called the siphoning of project funds by senior bureaucrats for personal gain a fit case for investigation under the Prevention of Corruption Act but acknowledged that it was possibly too late for legal action.The farmers’ allegations, which were aired before the court this week, are being probed by a special investigation team, which is trying to establish the cash trail of the cuts allegedly received by officials.Senior Supreme Court advocate ML Lahoty said the apex court has time and again pointed out corruption in Noida Authority. The problem, he implied, was structural as it could regenerate unless the conditions that produced it were changed.Yogendra Narain, a former UP chief secretary who was also founding chairman of Greater Noida Authority, said, “Right now, there is no agency which can keep a direct check on the three authorities,” he said. He proposed that an ombudsman, headed by a retired high court judge and supported by retired officials from CAG and police, fully staffed and empowered to investigate independently, was needed “to check corruption in Noida Authority”.A senior Noida Authority official said for transparency, the Authority conducted has started e-auctioning of all properties. “This is to ensure a level-playing field for all the stakeholders and every participant. We have a Jan Sunwai portal, Integrated Grievance Redressal System, and regular audits by CAG and the state to check Noida Authority’s functioning,” he said.
